We use cookies in order to improve the quality and usability of the HSE website. More information about the use of cookies is available here, and the regulations on processing personal data can be found here. By continuing to use the site, you hereby confirm that you have been informed of the use of cookies by the HSE website and agree with our rules for processing personal data. You may disable cookies in your browser settings.

Mental health disorders are among the leading worldwide causes of disease and long-term disability. This issue has a long and painful history of gradual de-stigmatization of patients, coinciding with humanization of therapeutic approaches. What are the current trends in Russia regarding this issue and in what ways is it similar to and different from Western countries? IQ.HSE provides an overview of this problem based on research carried out by Svetlana Kolpakova.

On September 5, Laurie Manchester, Associate Professor of History at Arizona State University, presented her paper on voluntary repatriation of Russians from China to the Soviet Union between 1935 and 1960. The presentation was part of the research seminar, ‘Boundaries of History’, held regularly by the Department of History at HSE University in St. Petersburg. HSE News Service spoke with Laurie Manchester about her research interests, collaborating with HSE faculty members, and the latest workshop.

Dr. Sabyasachi Tripathi, from Kolkata, India, is a new research fellow at HSE University. He will be working at the Laboratory for Science and Technology Studies of the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge.

The President of Belarus signed a Decree No. 8 of 21 December 2017 on Development of Digital Economy in Belarus. This document among other things defines the legal regime of blockchain, cryptocurrencies, tokens, mining and smart-contracts. It defines the legal status of "operators of crypto-platforms" and "operators of cryptocurrency exchanges". The Decree provides definitions, taxation, application of other legislative provisions to the transactions based on blockchain.

This commentary focuses on analysis of the blockchain/cryptocurrency related aspects of the decree, specifically on:
• Sphere of its application (geographical scope and personal jurisdiction)
• Terminology used
• Legal status of the parties to the transactions
• Peculiarities of public-law regime of transactions (taxation, currency control, AML/CFT provisions)

The paper analyzes legal issues associated with application of existing contract law provisions to so-called Smart contracts, defined in the paper as “agreements existing in the form of software code implemented on the Blockchain platform, which ensures autonomy and self-executive nature of Smart contract terms based on predetermined set of factors”. The paper consists of several sections. In the first section, the paper outlines peculiarities of Blockchain technology as currently implemented in Bitcoin cryptocurrency and which forms the core of Smart contracts. In the second section, the main characteristic features of Smart contracts are described. Finally, the paper outlines key tensions between classic contract law and Smart contracts.. The conclusion section sets the core question for analysis of the perspectives of implementation of this technology by governments: “How to align the powers of the government with Blockchain if there is no central authority but only distributed technologies”. The author suggests two solutions, which are not optimal: 1) providing the state authorities with the status of a Superuser with extra powers and 2) relying on traditional remedies and enforcement practices, by pursuing specific individuals – parties to Smart contract - in offline mode. It is emphasized that those jurisdictions, which have the most Blockchain-friendly regulations will have competitive advantage in attraction of new innovative business models and companies willing to exploit them in a legal way.

The paper analyzes legal issues associated with Smart contracts, i.e. agreements existing in the form of software code implemented on the Blockchain platform, which ensures autonomy and self-executive nature of Smart contract terms based on predetermined set of factors. Based on cryptocurrency Bitcoin example, the paper outlines peculiarities of Blockchain technology, which is the core of Smart contracts. Then the tensions between classic contract law and Smart contracts are outlined (inapplicability of concepts of “obligation”, “responsibility”, “non-performance or improper performance”, etc.) and certain possible consequences of wide-scale use of Smart contracts in legal practice

This study concerns the use of crypto-currency with specific reference to the situation in Russia. A variety of such systems exist; Bitcoin, however, is perhaps the best-known example and will be used as synonymous with the concept throughout this article. Our findings not only show how the views of Russian government bodies are formed and developed, but also sheds light on the specific innovative methods which legal entities use for development of the economy. Consideration will be given to recent developments within Russia which has been more active than many countries in seeking to clarify the status of Bitcoin and providing for the regulation of the technology.

The article describes and analyzes the legislative politics of revolutionary regimes in Russia in 1917-1918. The author aims to demonstrate the political meaning of the form of early Soviet legislation and its legitimizing effect. The revolutionary legislators often used specific language in the new laws as a vehicle of legitimacy, i.e. to make the people comply. The two main types of legal language used by the Bolsheviks can be interpreted from the perspective of different types of legitimacy. The revolutionary strategy used propagandistic legislation, written in the language of lay people, which urged them to act according to the new law. It can be seen as a request for acts of the people to legitimize the soviets. On the contrary, the traditional strategy employed old bureaucratic means of writing and distributing legislation to the local soviets. The language used by this strategy was closed to the understanding of a lay audience and implied traditions of obeying the law written in familiar legal language, which in turn implied rational/legal legitimacy. The second strategy had already become dominant after the first months of the Bolshevik revolution. This observation demonstrates that from the very beginning of their rule, Soviet leaders approached legislative policy from a technocratic point of view, which determined the further development of Soviet legal theory and practice.

The dg.o conference is the flagship conference of the Digital Government Society (DGS), and has positioned itself to be a top-ranking conference in this interdisciplinary academic field. It brings high quality research contributions and plays a major role in the advancement of knowledge in the field of digital government. The continue growing number of scholars and the growing number of members will continue to reinforce the position of DGS as a research and practice platform where researchers and practitioners can meet, exchange ideas, and build new relationships.

To serve target customers better than their competitors, supply chain management (SCM) teams today look into new technologies such as Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchain. These new technologies allow managers to develop and provide complex supply chain services and products faster with improved reliabilities. With these technologies, SCM teams can build complex models of a supply chain or systems of supply chains using a data-driven approach. With the growth of aviation domain across the world, there has been increasing demand in aircraft for airlines and other customers. In this domain, SCM teams deal with complex networked supply chains for aircraft’s spare part purchase and delivery for aircraft’s maintenance and repair. Aircraft’s spare parts are shipped to single assembly hubs, located globally. All parts come with certain life expectancy, specific requirements and maintenance attributes. With thousands of spare parts, hundreds of parameters, and number of manufactures distributed globally, SCM team need to deal with very large amount of data. In this paper, we use an industrial scenario of aviation industry SCM to demonstrate the necessity of having decentralized system based on distributed data-driven application technologies such as Blockchain, not only to assist in maintaining inventory of the aircraft’s parts but also to monitor the performance, usage, etc. This will help to achieve a transparent network of supply chain for aircraft’s parts and reduce the risk of availability of aircraft’s parts in black market. These new data-driven technologies when embedded into SCM scenarios will help the SCM managers to analyse the supply, demands, source of availability of spare parts and provide methods to procure them from the right sources.

In the conditions of accelerated globalization and high speed of technological progress, it becomes vitally important for investors, banks and other participants of the financial market to use innovations in their kind of activity to increase profits. Otherwise, they can be defeated before their competitors. In view of the above situation, the author decided to carry out a research paper on the topic "Bitcoin as a breakthrough innovation of the 21st century". The article is devoted to the study of the Crypto-currency as a derivative of the technology from the "Blochane" innovation. The main objective of the study is to define the investment appeal of the crypto currency both in general and in particular - Bitcoin. The subject of the study is Bitcoin, and the object of research is the technology of P2P data exchange. The main method of studying Bitcoin is the historical analysis, on the basis of which the cause-effect relationships affecting the Bitcoin exchange rate to the dollar were searched. Also, a quantum-economic analysis was made showing the state of the subject of research to date. Moreover, it was presented a comparison of the fiat currencies and the first crypto currency. The author also analyzed the dynamics of changes in the level of interest of the population in crypto currency Bitcoin and the dynamics of the change in the rate of Bitcoin to the dollar. Based on the analysis done, the author came to a number of conclusions, the main ones of which are: Bitcoin is a test model of a new concept of electronic money transfer; In the near future it is necessary to expect the emergence of national crypto-currencies; The potential of technology "Blokchayne" can radically change the accounting and tax reporting of legal entities.

This article is devoted to the legitimation and application of the standards of ex post and ex ante by courts and the executive authorities in the sphere of competition regulation. The postulates of ex post and ex ante are considered as legal principles. The principle of ex post is intended solely for judicial and administrative application; it has a deontological framework; it assumes that the legality of the activity of economic entities is assessed only on the basis of positive legal criteria in terms of the subjective rights violated; it is limited to a particular case. The traditional approach to the principle of ex post limits the scope of its application on the subjects and excessively expands its objects. The postulate of ex ante has a utilitarian basis which assumes the assessment of the application of relevant rules in the future. One of the main aims of the article is to refute the common view of lawyers and economists that a legislator applies principle of ex ante not being bound by principle of ex post, while it is the other way around for the courts and the executive authorities. The principle of ex ante may be applied not only in the process of the creation of new rules but also at the application stage for existing rules on economic competition. This is justified because the arguments of the courts and the executive authorities about a refusal to take into account the consequences of a decision in a particular case are not convincing.

The article is devoted to a particular form of freedom of assembly — the right to counter-demonstrate. The author underlines the value of this right as an element of democratic society, but also acknowledges the risk of violent actions among participants of opposing demonstrations. Due to this risk, the government may adopt adequate measures restricting the right to counter-demonstrate, certain types of which are analyzed in this paper.

This article analyzes the usage of legislation as a legal source in the Russian Empire through the phenomenon of the publication of law. The author argues that the absence of separation of executive, legislative and court powers had definite negative effects for lawmaking and enforcement. The legislative politics of Russian emperors could be analyzed using Jürgen Habermas‘ concept of ―representative publicness‖ (representative öffentlichkeit): to a large extent, the tsars considered law as both an assertion of authority and a means of governing. Their actions towards strengthening legality in the state (i.e. the compulsory publication of legislation) were in essence symbolic or theatrical. In fact, since the separation of laws from executive acts did not exist in imperial Russia, the legislation was published (or stayed unpublished) exclusively for state administrators. The conflict in conceptions of legality between state and civil actors in the second half of the nineteenth century was not of a merely political nature. The article demonstrates that there was a public demand for publication of legislation; insufficient accessibility of legal information negatively influenced social and economic development in imperial Russia.

Development of standards of international controllability is reviewed in the article. Institutional approach is applied to development of international legal regime of Energy Charter. Definition of controllability is connected to development of international standards of dispute settlement, which are described in the article in detail. In connection with controllability, Russian interest, defense of investment in European Union and ecological investment encouragement, is reviewed in the article.